The Weekly Vision has learnt that the board developed a Cash Transfer Program of Kshs.400, 000,000 aimed at benefitting 100,000 Kenyans weekly in urban informal settlements for one month. The partial audit revealed that a total of 97,515 persons benefited from the cash transfer program. Out of these, 95,727 were registered Mpesa users while 1,788 were not registered. The highest amount disbursed to a beneficiary was Kshs 24,000 while the least amount disbursed was Kshs 1,000. Analysis of the data provided revealed that there were 38 payments done to the same Mpesa telephone number but with different names amounting to Kshs 72,000
A task force formed to manage the National Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund which was set up in 2020 to fight the global pandemic has been challenged to table a complete audit of account of the billions of shillings it raised.
In a press statement, a top official from the NGO Council said. The current “wall of silence” that has suddenly gripped the task force after the lockdown was lifted by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in October 2021 is baffling. As of the 21st of April 2020, the chairperson of the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Jane Karuku indicated that the donations had hit Ksh. 1.29 billion mark including Ksh. 917.77 million in cash and Ksh. 370.3 million in kind.
“We are aware the Emergency Fund raised billions from corporate bodies and other donors yet it has said nothing on how it spent the huge amounts of money that was raised.” The official urged the task force to publish audited accounts in the national newspapers as earlier pledged. “We challenge the task force that had promised to be transparent in all transactions to ask its auditors to publish details of how the funds were disbursed now that the threat of the pandemic has been largely contained.”
He further urged the task force to appreciate that there are still Covid 19 patients in hospitals some in ICU who need every possible support. He said the Fund had in a haphazard manner paid out living wage cash out to poor families but the exercise was badly managed. Many deserving cases failed to get any support. It’s not even clear whether the task force has a secretariat or offices it operates from as most members are corporate CEOs.
The Weekly Vision has learnt that the board developed a Cash Transfer Program of Kshs.400, 000,000 aimed at benefitting 100,000 Kenyans weekly in urban informal settlements for one month. The mapping of the vulnerable categories of persons to benefit from the cash transfer programme would be guided by considerations such as persons who were on employment but rendered jobless due to COVID-19, persons within a family set up and those who had not been beneficiaries of funds from any Government related intervention. The Board approved the cash transfer programme on 2 June 2020 and Kshs. 400,000,000 was transferred to MPESA Holding Company Limited to be disbursed to the identified beneficiaries, but according to the auditor-general’s report, the money was transferred from an irregular account of the board at Absa to Mpesa.
A partial audit revealed that a total of 97,515 persons benefited from the cash transfer program. Out of these, 95,727 were registered Mpesa users while 1,788 were not registered. The highest amount disbursed to a beneficiary was Kshs 24,000 while the least amount disbursed was Kshs 1,000.
Analysis of the data provided revealed that there were 38 payments done to the same Mpesa telephone number but with different names amounting to Kshs 72,000. Similarly, 7,850 beneficiaries shared names but had different Mpesa telephone lines and were paid a total of Kshs.32, 626,000. The identity card (ID) numbers of the recipients were not provided for audit and analysis. In absence of the identity card numbers and given the time constraint, the special audit was not able to independently verify that the recipients of the cash transfers were bona fide beneficiaries or that the cash was received. Consequently, the lawfulness and effectiveness of the utilization of the Kshs.400, 000,000 could not be confirmed.
